An Ordinary Morning
by Tynesider
Summary: The morning after Ripto took control of Avalar, and tensions are running high. OneShot.


There was plenty to choose from on the breakfast table, but no-one really felt like eating and whatever appetite they had had been channelled into loathing for the people around them. Around the table stood three chairs, all strategically placed so the occupants could see their opponents clearly. This wasn't a leisurely breakfast between friends – this was truel which would almost certainly end badly.

In one chair sat an aged mole, his legs dangling above the floor. On his shoulders he bore a lab coat, stained and sliced with years of experimenting, and he feared more damage may be caused should his guests lose their nerve. He had set up this little event in order to restore normality and remind his guests that it was just an ordinary morning like any other, but so far his reassurances appeared to be falling on deaf ears. He was keen to act as a mediator in what seemed to be an inevitable conflict, but he was also prepared to defend himself should the need arise. He wasn't an obvious target for their abuse, but he knew that when people were angry they did irrational things.

In the second chair sat a cheetah, a bow and quiver resting at his side. He held a cup of coffee in his hand despite the fact it was resting on the table, giving the impression he was waiting to throw it at someone. His eyes were slanted in a look of slight caution but his body slumped casually, a juxtaposing image betraying no obvious emotion. He did this partly because it was natural and partly because he knew it would infuriate the person in the third chair.

The occupant of the final chair was the only female among them. She was also a faun, one bathed in the colours of the forest she could see through the window. But her eyes were not on the window, they were far too enraged for that. Her gaze was directed at the cheetah, and it had been ever since they'd been summoned to eat. Out of the three she seemed the most likely to start a fight; at least that was what her body language said. She had good reason to act so hostile though – just yesterday she had lost control of Avalar, and it was thanks to the cheetah opposite her that that had happened. Using his birthday as co-ordinates for a highly sophisticated portal, really? Of course some of the blame had to fall on the mole for letting him do that, but the guiltiest had to face trial first.

"More coffee, Hunter?" the mole asked, holding the pitcher out to the cheetah. The atmosphere was so blatant he knew it was futile to try such a stunt, but the longer he could hold off the inevitable rage the more time he had to formulate a response in that powerful mind of his.

"No thanks, Professor," he replied, not looking at his host, "I've more than enough."

"Elora?"

"I only drink coffee on Saturdays, but thanks for the offer anyway," the faun whispered, barely internalising her anger.

"Suit yourself," the Professor shrugged, topping up his mug before replacing the pitcher, "So what's on the agenda for today?"

Elora shifted in her seat, showing her extreme discomfort.

"Oh, not a lot..." she said, baring her teeth. The Professor gulped and waited for the inevitable, "I suppose we could always CLEAN UP THE MESS YOU CREATED!" she roared, rising to her cloven feet and pointing an accusing finger at Hunter. The cheetah looked at her for the first time in half an hour but remained silent.

"Oh boy," the Professor said, identifying the sharp objects on the table and pulling them over to his side with a speed comparable to that of his feline friend. Elora turned her gaze on him and started to shout again.

"Why did you let him do that, eh?" she asked, gesticulating for effect, "You're the one who built a super powerful portal with all the latest scientific technology, and then you decide to let some dumb cat pound away on the keyboard and hope for the best!"

"Hey!" Hunter said defensively, rising to his feet to match the faun, "I didn't see you suggesting any ideas! You were all like..." he began to imitate Elora, "Oh! The Professor's building a new portal! Well I'll tag along and when it works I can claim credit for it! I can't do anything on my own, so I'll just flutter my eyelashes and look pretty until I can look good to all of Avalar!" he began fluttering his own eyelashes to mock her. Elora responded by grabbing her glass of juice and throwing its contents into his face.

"Do that again and you'll get a mouthful of glass!" she screamed, smashing her glass on the side of the table to give it volatile shards.

"Elora, that's quite enough!" the Professor shouted. Elora glared at him momentarily, then placed her weapon down. "I know what's happened is far from ideal but I expect much better from you! Especially seeing as you're a Diplomat!"

"Not anymore!" Elora said, "Now that that Ripto guy's here I'm out of a job, so I don't need to act professional any longer!"

"Elora, please calm down," the Professor said firmly, "I will not tolerate such silliness from an intelligent woman like yourself."

"He's ruined us!" she said, pointing to Hunter, "He's taken Avalar and thrown it on the scrapheap! He's Pandora! One day a kid's going to open a history book, flip to the page about this day and see his face under a subtitle that reads 'The Traitor'!"

"Hey, do you think I wanted this to happen!" Hunter shouted, his bellow silencing his equestrian colleague, "Do you think I wanted to have my home overrun by some madman and his pet dinosaurs? I was only trying to help! No-one else was suggesting co-ordinates..."

"You didn't give..."

"Let me finish!" he screamed, banging his paws on the table. Elora fell silent. "Thank you!" he growled, "Look, it was an accident, okay? None of us could have guessed that that would happen, but here you are making me look like it was some big conspiracy! It wasn't! It was just a mistake!" he grabbed a slice of toast from the table and began to tear at it, ripping chunks out of it like a predator. Elora's eyes softened ever so slightly, but not enough to dissipate her anger.

"Well accident or no accident, you've still created a mess and I don't see you pushing past anyone to do something about it!"  
>"Oh yeah, like I can do anything on my own!"<p>

"Well give us ideas! At least look like you're interested in winning back Avalar!"

"Elora, it's been less than a day! I can't come up with a plan to defeat some magician and his pet reptiles in that time!"

"Well think faster!"

"Oh, I've had enough of this!" Hunter said, grabbing his weapons and swinging them over his back.

"Hunter!" the Professor called hopelessly as the cheetah strolled out of the door, a slam his only reply as he shoved the door closed behind him.

The aged mole grabbed the pitcher of juice and poured himself a glass, taking small sips from it in order to compose himself. With the object of her malice gone Elora's gaze had softened, which suited the Professor fine. It made her look more normal.

"Now then," he said with a smack of his lips, "Elora, I want you to go and apologise to Hunter."

"I'm sorry?"

"Find him and apologise to him. Now."

"Who let you give the orders around here?"

"If you're going to behave like a little girl then I'm going to treat you like one, now apologise to him."

Elora sat down defiantly, plucking an apple from the fruit bowl and chewing on it. The Professor closed his eyes and repressed his growing anger.

"Elora," he breathed, forcing back the rage, "I have known you since you were an infant, and I know for a fact you are capable of much better than this petty behaviour you're displaying at the moment."

"I'm not being petty, I'm being realistic."

"Well you can be realistic without smashing a glass and brandishing it as a weapon!"

"Well it got my point across, didn't it?"

"You're missing the point!" the Professor said, raising his voice, "You can't just threaten someone with an impromptu blade! Especially not you: someone who serves to prevent fighting!"

"Well we're going to have to throw a punch or two by the look of things," she said, glancing out the window and at the new banners that coated the walls of Summer Forest.

"At Ripto and his companions but not at our friends. Elora, all of a sudden we have very little; you of all people should know that. Now that we're quite poor we can't go around making more enemies, a house divided and all that. Please, for the sake of Avalar, go and apologise to Hunter..."

"Why should I?"

"Please, just do it..."

"I don't see why..."

"Elora please..."

"I mean, it's his fault..."

"JUST DO IT!" the Professor screamed, his anger finally breaking free to mute the faun, "All I wanted was for us to enjoy breakfast together! Put what happened aside for a few moments just to reconcile and enjoy one another's company!" he began to move the breakfast dishes into the kitchen. "Wishful thinking indeed," he added, his voice lower and subdued.

Elora blinked at him, then looked down at the shattered glass. A deep sense of shame washed over her and she bowed her head. What a mockery she had made of someone's kind gesture, subverting it into a horror show where she had clearly marked herself as the most disgraceful. How could she pay penance for this? Well, she could start by apologising.

"Professor..." she whispered, raising her head again.

"I don't want to hear it!" he snapped, "Just leave! I can't take any more of this!"

"Okay," Elora nodded, rising to her feet.

The Professor didn't face her, instead he listened to the clicks of her hooves as she departed. The sound of the door shutting once again was more of a relief than it should have been, but after that monstrosity it was a welcome noise. Diligently he carried on clearing the dishes, but on the inside he was seething from his catastrophic failure. First the portal and now this, and in all honesty he couldn't decide which felt worse. The collapse of Avalar or the collapse of friendship. He tried to repress the feeling of loneliness that was building inside of him but failed, and it built until he could fight it no longer.

He seated himself again and rested his head in his wrinkled hands. Raised voices, finger-pointing and makeshift weapons. Some ordinary morning this had turned out to be.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello,<strong>

**At last I've returned to my element - depressing fanfiction. Hooray! :D**

**As you've probably guessed this takes place the morning after Hunter let Ripto into Avalar, and you'd think tensions would be running pretty high when you bear in mind they've lost control of their home in the blink of an eye. Melodramatic? Probably, but I'm only trying to look at things differently.**

**Leave a review if you wish. It's always nice to have some feedback.**

**Yours,**

**Tynesider**


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